


live your life, winning victories and burning brightly

by exile_wrath



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Multiple Perspectives, focus on Uzushio and worldbuilding, oc-insert, there's barely any canon info so a lot of this is from my head
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-09-03 01:03:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8690491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exile_wrath/pseuds/exile_wrath
Summary: In one world, the Pirios are a clan of elves known for their red hair and grey eyes, affable nature, affinity to fire, and their love to fight.In this world, the Uzumaki are a shinobi clan known for their red hair, eccentric nature, water and wind affinities, and fuuinjutsu expertise. Uzumaki Shou is a textbook example of Uzumaki crazy. Hyper, willing to experiment with things even if there may be large amounts of collateral damage involved, a penchant for bonding with the most bizarre people... And then you get the fact that she wants to use a two-handed axe her primary weapon, which no one does, is shit at stealth but great at fighting- and oh, right. Claims to have been an "elf" in her past life. Whether you believe her or not, it's quite safe to say that she's crazy in the way that all Uzumaki are.The story of a fantasy elf born into the Uzumaki Clan before the Second Shinobi War.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, another OC-Insert Naruto fic from me. This one is purely self-indulgent, though, and is much less planned than my other one. Also, an experiment with my writing style and multiple perspectives. 
> 
> I'm very irritated at the lack of canon info on Uzushio but on the other hand it means I get to throw all my worldbuilding Uzushio headcanons in here.
> 
> \+ I should probably note that said fantasy world Shou is from is something for a novel I'm planning. Sorry no Tolkien here.

In a land several dimensions away where dragons hoard in caves, elves and dwarves chill together, and humans have carved out their place with trade and their strong sense of “fuck it”, one particular race of elves are known as the Pirios. Take the raw strength and speed of a dragon, compress it into a humanoid shape of roughly six feet of kickass, and give it hair as red as dragonfire and eyes the color of ash and you have a pretty standard Pirios-

-hey, dragons do exist!

Anyways, all Pirios like to fight. We live for combat, live to test our strength against all willing, and the thrill of battle is more likely to attract a Pirios than any offer of sex. Not to say we didn’t like sex. But our clan was known for producing the strongest warriors. If elves of the Abhirsvn are the greatest swimmers and the rulers of the ocean, and Sayieth elves are the greatest assassins — sneaky bastards — and rule the jungle, then the Pirios are the greatest melee fighters, and we rule the volcanoes and basically anywhere hot? Hm? Why heat? Because we have the attributes of fire dragons, silly. And fire dragons obviously have high heat resistance.

Why do Pirios have the attributes of fire dragons? Well duh, because our ancestor stole the powers of the great dragon Myr-

* * *

 “Shou-chan! Are you telling that story again? Tanaka-san from the marketplace just told me about how all the kids only want dragon-shaped candies lately. Will you ever grow up?” Kaji-san asks, appearing around the corner. I puff out my cheeks as the kids that had been listening shriek with laughter at her anger and scamper away from her outrage.

“They’re not stories!” I argue. “They’re true! That’s why my hair is red and my eyes are grey, after all, it’s because I’m-”

Kaji-san huffs, and squats down to look me in the eye. “Shou-chan,” she says patiently. I look away, not wanting to see _that_ expression again. “Shou-chan, your hair is red because your parents had red hair, and you have Fuyumi’s grey eyes.” She stands up, and holds out her hand for me to take. “You’re not a Pirios, Shou-chan. You’re Uzumaki.”

I stuck out my tongue, but put my hand in hers anyways. My stomach chose to grumble at that moment, and she smiles at me patiently. “I’m a Pirios _and_ an Uzumaki,” I say as we head towards her house.

“Shou-chan, you can be whatever you want to be.”

* * *

 There’s a phrase all shinobi often fall back on to describe the inhabitants of Uzushiogakure. “There’s crazy, and then there’s Uzumaki crazy.”

It’s easy to argue that all shinobi are somewhat cracked in the head. However, “Uzumaki crazy” is a brand of crazy that no other shinobi want to be described with, and one that the Uzumaki clan embrace wholeheartedly as they experiment with fuuinjutsu on an hourly basis and destroy training grounds on a daily basis. Uzumaki crazy was used to describe the clan of redhaired daredevils with a propensity for going, “why _shouldn_ ’ _t_ I do the thing?” in response to every attempt to get them to obey the rules of common sense. It’s worth noting that occasionally a blond daredevil would pop up from the horde of red, too.

The Uzumaki are a dangerous clan because of the very few amount of fucks they give.

The Uzumaki shinobi have unusually large chakra stores, and many can condense their chakra into physical items due to some weird genetic chakra quirk.

The Uzumaki are good-natured, but fiercely protective when what they love is threatened.

The Uzumaki are _crazy_. After all, one of the most famous of them all, Uzumaki Mito, looked at the greatest bijuu, the Kyuubi, and went, “I’mma seal it in myself.”

You get the point.

Uzumaki Shou is a blossoming example of Uzumaki crazy. She started walking and jumping around at two, has an expressive vocabulary for an eight-year-old, and tells everyone willing to listen to her about creatures called elves, with a particular obsession on ones she calls “Pirios”, who bear a lot of resemblance to Uzumaki in their good nature and red hair.  Shou tells all the kids that will listen to her (which is to say, a lot, because Shou makes for a compelling storyteller) about the elves, about a land which chakra is called magic, and all sorts of people. And dragons. And “elves”.

If she hadn’t already professed strong interest (that is, to say, she was absolutely _adamant_ about it) on becoming a shinobi, most would assume that she would write stories when she grew up. She has an entire other world in her head, and can spout answers to any questions about it off the top of her head, and is, well, already proving that she has all the crazy the rest of her clan does.

* * *

 “Shou-chan,” Kaji Kae begins as her family and their temporary foster start digging into their evening meal, miso and tofu and rice with various grilled fish, “Mugi-san says he won’t mind having you over for lunch and dinner tomorrow.”

Shou pauses to think for a moment, gnawing the ends of her chopsticks subconsciously before one of the Kaji children grab them from her and put them on the table. “Oops. Does he want me to chase crows for him again?”

“I don’t know. If not Mugi-san, Tanaka-san or Yamane-san or Romi-san have a place for you at their tables. Of course, you can always go to one of your many cousins,” Kae says. “It’s up to you, Shou-chan.”

The girl ponders for a moment before shrugging and picking up her chopsticks again. “Ehh, I’ll figure it out tomorrow. Thank you for having me, Kaji-san!”

“Where are you going, Shou-chan?” one of the younger children demanded, grabbing her sleeve.

“I don’t want Shou-chan to go again!” another clamours.

She flashes a smile and pats the little ones on the head. “I’ll still be around! Just gonna sleep and eat somewhere else. Don’t worry — Thursday I’ll drop by Tanaka-san’s place and tell you guys allllll about the great dragon Myrrhopus!”

Kae sighs. “Shou-chan, no talking with your mouth full.”

“Oops. Sorry, Kaji-san!”

* * *

 It takes a village to raise a child.

It’s a common belief. After all, children cannot always be in their houses and solely interact with their parents or their other siblings. They have to meet other people, to learn and laugh and grow. Thus, Uzushio had taken this adage and applied it to children in most need of people to raise them — orphans. There’s a network of families, both shinobi and civilian, that are willing to foster children a few days every month, and so rather than having one large orphanage and caregivers to watch over the orphans, these children float in and out of countless warm houses, staying with different families, always welcome in all these different homes.

It’s an effective system in keeping orphans from ever feeling like they’re separate from the village, and ensures that when they grow older, there will be plenty of people that they’ve grown up with so that they’re comfortable. Of course, some may be adopted by families if both sides wish for it.

Shou doesn’t mind this floating around. Having an entire village as a family is better than just having a few people, after all. It’s nice, to know that she can walk into any house that she knows and be welcomed.

* * *

 Feet dash across the bridge that spans several meters between the main island of Uzushio and one that is solely reserved for the Shinobi Academy. “Yuuta-senseeeei,” Shou screams as she crashes into one of the teachers that had been leaving the Academy building, bouncing with excitement. “I’m nine now! Nine! That means I can enroll, right? Right?”

Uzumaki Yuuta drops his clipboard to the side looks at the smaller hyperactive Uzumaki in front of him. “Hello to you too, Shou-chan.” His voice carries a hint of rebuke.

She blinks twice, and drops her head, short hair hiding her downcast face. “Hello Yuuta-sensei, I’m sorry for running into you,” she says gravely, and then is all cheer a split second later. “But I’m nine now, and Mi-chan said that since I’m nine, I can ask you to enroll me! And it’s not like I have parents that I gotta get permission from, so can I enroll? Pretty please!”

Yuuta winces at how casually Shou can talk about the fact that Fuyumi and Ryuu are dead. Well, to be fair, she had never really known her parents enough to miss them, what with them dying on a mission when she was two and all. But Fuyumi had been one of his closer cousins, and she had been well-liked all around, so for him and other Uzumaki, Shou’s grey eyes, the same as Fuyumi’s, gives them a distant ache every now and then. “Okay, Shou-chan,” he says, closing his eyes and ignoring her loud cheer. “You know how to write your name, right?”

“Of course I do! I have an awesome name- wait, why?”

Yuuta bends down to her, and holds out his clipboard and a pencil. “Think of it like your entrance exam to enroll, Shou-chan.” He’s lying, of course, there was no real entrance exam other than a quick check that children were literate as fitting their age and and that their chakra coils were developing well. Considering that Shou was an Uzumaki like a quarter of the village, the latter wasn’t necessary. Mostly, he wants to see how this particular little cousin of his is doing.

“Oh, okay!” Shou grabs the pencil and puts her tongue between her teeth as she painstakingly writes her name.

渦巻 勝

Yuuta hides his slight surprise at the kanji well. “That’s not the right ‘shou’. Who taught you to write this?”

“Cousin Kou,” Shou says immediately. “I asked him the fastest way to write my name and I copied the kanji for Uzumaki until I could write it fast! And then I looked up the dictionary for kanji that are pronounced like Shou because no one knew which kanji it was written with. I like this kanji!”

The teacher smiles at her a little indulgently, and reaches to ruffle her hair. “This ‘shou’,” he copies the 勝 kanji, “is to win a battle, that’s why you chose it?” She nods. Yuuta, having actually seen Shou’s official papers before (he was a teacher at the Academy, and he’d been preparing for the incoming class, of which Shou had already been enrolled in due to her very loudly broadcasted declarations that she wanted to become a shinobi) writes another three kanji.

渦巻 昭

“This is the ‘shou’ Fuyumi put on your birth certificate.”

“Oh,” she tilts her head in confusion, “What’s that one mean?”

“Bright, like the sun,” Yuuta says. “Your parents wanted you to shine brightly through your life, I bet. Ryuu was always a poetic one.”

Shou stares at the kanji on the paper half a minute longer. “I like victory better,” she says. “I’m a Pirios, and we live for the fight!”

Ah, yes. Her story about another world and people that had the power of dragons. Yuuta can’t help but fondly think of Ryuu’s hastily-penned poems, now. Her mother’s looks and her father’s creativity — he wonders which parent’s traits she’ll live up to more. “If you say so, Shou-chan,” he says in good humour. “Now run back to Mi-chan’s house. You ran out of your birthday lunch right when she told you, didn’t she? Cousin Mori won’t be happy...”

Shou winces and runs away. “See you when school starts, Yuuta-sensei!” she yells at the end of the bridge before running back into the city.

 _Well_ , he thinks fondly as he waves her off, _either way, she’s a classic Uzumaki for sure._

* * *

 Shou is again bouncing with excitement, her knees bumping the desk as she looks around the classroom at the eighteen other kids with her. Most of them recognize her, all her cousins that also turned nine this year in the room with her, and several other kids that have heard her talking about the Pirios before. They wave at her, and she waves back, smiling at their greetings before focusing on the board with single-minded intensity as she tries to read what the chuunin instructor is writing.

Finally, she’s in the Academy. Finally, she thinks as she clenches and unclenches her hands, she’ll be able to fight again.

Once, she had been Xio Saenhaec of the Pirios, an elf of 83 years, quite young by her kind’s standards. Once, she’d been the General of the Mage Corps, Dean of the Sorce School Combat Division. Once, she had been _great_.

Now, she is human, and nine years old, and while she doesn’t hate her new circumstances, she misses her old life. Misses the feeling of dragonfire singing in her veins, of being able to fight dragons at the annual Clanmeet, of swinging her axe in one hand and calling upon a fire spell in another. Misses her favorite mask, her favorite axe, her favorite boots — a kind that warriors of this world would look down on, as full plate boots and leather armor are impractical for typical shinobi activities.

Shou misses a lot, but this life she has the sea singing in her blood instead, and at least all her blood-relatives have a comforting shade of red hair. Her own, she hopes, will be as bright as how it was when she was Xio. This life is _fun_ , even though she’s spent all of it as a child so far — it’s almost as fun as her last one. _All I need_ , she thinks, _is to be able to fight again. I’ll become a great shinobi, so I can have great fights._

While Kaji-san and Tanaka-san and Mugi-san and literally every single one of her relatives treat her declarations of being Pirios with humour, Shou has never once considered not saying anything. Because she _knows_ , every time her blood races when she hears metal clashing from the training grounds, every time she looks at fire and imagines Myrrhopus’ eyes staring back at her — she knows that even though her body is human, she has her memories for a purpose, surely.

She may be an Uzumaki now, but her soul is a Pirios elf, and the purpose of all Pirios, from the day they can first execute a drop-kick until their last breath, is to find the thrill of life in the _fight_.

Shou doesn’t remember how Xio died. It doesn’t matter, anyways. If she died already, there’s nothing she can do about it. All that’s left to do now is to live this life just as she lived her last one — to the fullest, winning victories and burning brightly.

“I will now be calling roll!” she registers the chuunin instructor saying, “Stand up when you are called, and say anything about yourself you want.” With each name that the woman says, Shou looks around to match names with faces, find out who will be fighting alongside her when they graduate. In two minutes or so, she hears her name, and she stands up so fast she almost knocks her chair over, smiling at her classmates as they giggle.

“I’m Uzumaki Shou! My first name is written with the kanji for victory, and I’m an elf of the Pirios clan!” In the corner of her eye, she sees the instructor shake her head good-naturedly, clearly having been informed of Shou’s quirks, and some students say, “Pirios?” in confusion.

Shou grins even wider, but sits down. By the end of the day, she figures, all the ones that haven’t met her before will come up to her and ask her about the Pirios clan, or they’ll have been told about the ones that know. Either way, she’d have more friends! Foolproof plan.

(It should probably be noted that Xio Saenhaec, for all of her authority and repute as a terrifying army general and combat instructor, _loved_ making friends. More friends equals more drinking buddies and fighting buddies!)

* * *

 In Uzushiogakure, the shinobi academy’s curriculum is two years of mostly in-class lectures and basic hands-on exercises to get students in contact with their chakra, plus covering the basics of the most widely used shinobi tools (shuriken, kunai, and senbon) and the three basic taijutsu styles of Uzushio.

The third year, the class is divided into three-man teams which change every month, based on observations the chuunin instructors make about the students and their dynamics. It is in these shifting teams that students start to spar more frequently and practice their taijutsu and projectile throwing. The sparsely forested hills of the island that the academy is on also serves as an excellent location for students to gain some basic experience about life in the field, and learn how to set up traps plus other essential shinobi knowledge. Students also are taught three kinds of chakra control exercises, more about the affinities of chakra, tested for their affinities, and learn basic exercises to call upon their elemental affinities. Upon the entire class being able to successfully perform several basic jutsu such as the henge and kawarimi, they are sorted into final groups of three and then foisted on jounin to graduate from being students to genin.

The most important thing of the Uzushio curriculum though, is fuuinjutsu, taught from the first day until the last. They are a small country, after all, one that is able to stand on equal ground with bigger ones like Konoha because the might of their shinobi forces... and their sheer creativity and skill with sealing.

Another phrase that shinobi use in reference to Uzumaki is, after all, “An Uzumaki with ink is the most dangerous kind of Uzumaki.”

Shou hates calligraphy lessons with a burning passion. To be honest, she hates the language of this life with a burning passion, too. Now she has to conjugate adverbs and adjective and verbs?! It’s unnecessarily complicated, she thinks whenever she fumbles in speaking because there are so many different conjugations in this language with very specific connotations and _ugh_. And then calligraphy lessons are all about writing this complicated as heck language, so... not exactly up there on her favourite lessons list.

Unfortunately for her, calligraphy lessons are the backbone of fuuinjutsu, as seals require a steady hand in putting ink down with brush, and speed is needed in the field if drawing seals on the fly. So, calligraphy.

... Just because they were necessary didn’t mean Shou had to like them, though.

“Hey, Shouichi-kun,” she greets one of her many cousins one day after their daily calligraphy lesson. “How can you stand this stuff?”

Shouichi didn’t answer until he was done with the string of kanji he had been copying down for what Shou bet was the hundredth time or so. He was obsessive like that. “It’s really calming,” Shouichi says as he set the brush down. He pushes up his glasses and curiously looks at her and her messy calligraphy practice. “I don’t get how you can’t do it. You’re good at everything, Shou.”

“Bleh. No I’m not, calligraphy sucks,” Shou replies. “Anyways, it’s lunch break! Want to go to the new ramen place near the third pier?”

Shouichi brightens. “The one Kou-kun was talking about? Yeah!” the boy stands up and rummages in his pockets, checking the sound of coins for enough ryo to buy a bowl. “Let’s go!”

They dash out of the classroom together, other kids joining them upon hearing that they were going to eat ramen. Most of them are other Uzumaki.

At the head of the group, Shou jumps and spins to look at the ones following her, never staying on the ground for more than a minute. “You jump so high, Shou-chan!” Shouichi cries as he jumps with her. “Are you bad at calligraphy because all your energy is in your legs instead of your hands?”

Shou laughs, bright and free and she jumps again, this time catching her hands on a low tree branch. She swings on it once, twice, because she knows that this body doesn’t have the same strength as her old one (not yet, anyways) and she flings herself to another tree branch, fingertips only brushing the bark before she tucks into a roll to hit the ground. “That’s so cool, Shou-chan!” someone says.

“You can do it too, Emiko-chan!” Shou calls back. Uzumaki Emiko blushes and shakes her head, and Shou makes a disappointed noise before her cousin Mari tugs her sleeve.

“Come on, Shou, ramen!” She laughs at the reminder, and sprints across the bridge with the rest of her family at her back.

* * *

 Classroom observation report (filed by Chuunin Moritaka Hideyoshi)

1 . . .

  1. Nomura Kou is reticent and does not speak or emote much. Has difficulty expressing themself. Spaces out in class but can give good answers when prompted. Studies are above average. Dislikes group activities. Socialization needs work.



. . .

  1. Uzumaki Emiko is quiet, but constantly watches other children. She seems to take the role of a bystander often, but does not shy away from playing with other children. Studies are good. Lacking in mathematics. Socializes well.  

  2. Uzumaki Mari does not speak much unless food is mentioned. Tends to follow the lead of others but will take initiative when food is presented as motivation. Studies are average. A hands-on method of learning is better for her. Socialization is average.  

  3. Uzumaki Shouichi is a quiet boy who excels in calligraphy and has minor vision problems. He is easily convinced to act, and does not mind following others. Studies are good. Strong interest in fuuinjutsu. Socializes well.  

  4. Uzumaki Shou is loud and easily leads other students in activities. She takes everything in stride and is obedient unless made to do something she dislikes. Has an overactive imagination. Studies are average. Calligraphy needs work. Socializes well.



. . .

* * *

 Nomuramen is as quiet as a ramen stand in Uzushiogakure can get and then there is only a moment’s warning of what almost sounds like a stampede before a good eight redheaded children run in under the store curtain. running up to the counter and jostling each other as they greeted the cook there. “Nomura-san, Nomura-san, Kou-kun told us that you made reaaaally good ramen, so we came to try!” one of the Uzumaki children say, jumping up and down in excitement.

The man behind the counter laughs at the children dispersing themselves to claim various seats after excitedly shouting their orders. At some point, an argument whether shio-ramen or shoyu-ramen was better broke out, only to be settled with a loud, “Tonkatsu ramen is best!” from one child that was seated at the counter, eagerly awaiting her bowl.But didn’t you order shio-ramen, Mari-chan?”

Mari sticks her tongue out. “Only because I got tonkatsu ramen when my family ate dinner yesterday. Just because I don’t eat it all the time doesn’t mean it isn’t the best.” Touching her stomach, she pouts. “Besides, my parents want me to eat less ramen, so...”

“Uh-oh, won’t you get in trouble if they find out?” one boy pipes up. The chef smiles indulgently as the children break into a collective freakout at Mari’s parents finding out, and carefully ladles out the ramen into eight bowls.

A little bit later, after payment has been collected and happy children are drinking their soup, Mari looks at the girl that the chef remembers was at the head of the group when they tromped in. “Hey Shou-chan, did the Pirios like ramen?” she demands like it a question of utmost importance.

The rest of the conversation sails over the chef’s head as the children freak out again, this time because apparently, according to Shou-chan, “We didn’t have ramen, which is a super duper shame, because ramen is GREAT.”

“How did they _live_ without ramen?” Mari yelps, but Shou’s answer is cut off by a boy wearing glasses pointing out the time, and then it is a mad collective stampede back to the Academy.

Chef Nomura shakes his head as one of his staff pick up their empty bowls. “Classic Uzumaki,” he mutters to himself. He’ll have to remember to thank his son for netting him customers from shinobi academy later.

* * *

 The Uzumaki clan is so large and tight-knit that at some point, they gave up on tracking exact blood relations at some point and started calling everyone “cousin”. So Shouichi isn’t sure exactly how close or distant Shou is, but she’s over at their house often enough he may as well stop calling her “cousin” and call her “sister” instead.

Like most other kids his age, Shouichi thinks that Shou is fun to play with. She comes up with the best games and never gets mad and, while she can be blunt, she’s never deliberately hurtful with her words. Well, she tries not to be.

Also like most other kids, Shouchi was thrown badly off-kilter when he and his family first met “cousin Shou”. It’s something he takes comfort in, especially when she’s behaving bizarrely. Which isn’t an uncommon thing. Apparently, most of the family had been thrown off-kilter every time they first met Shou, because Shou is one of those people that is 100% herself at any given moment, and Shouichi suspects that on the list of things that Shou sucks at, acting is up there with calligraphy.

It’s probably not a good thing that he’s making a mental list of all the things his self-proclaimed favourite cousin is bad at (to be fair, she _is_ his favourite cousin, not that he’ll say that out loud or she’ll probably make him sick spinning him around or something) but he can’t quite help it. It makes things... easier, to track things that people are bad at, so Shouichi can make himself better at those things, and if anyone ever shoves him down for being worse than them, then he’ll know it to be a lie.

Shou wouldn’t shove him down like other cousins have before, but it never hurts to be careful.

“You’re doing that thing again,” Shou says as they practice calligraphy on papers in his kitchen. She’d come over to play, but since he’d been in the middle of his own practice she had ended up joining him. “The thinking too much thing,” she clarifies before he can ask.

“Not everyone thinks as little as you do,” Shouichi blurts in frustration, an angry line ruining the kanji he had been focusing on. It takes a second to realize what he had just said and he looks from his paper to his cousin in horror. “Shou-chan-”

“Well, fighting is all instinct anyways. You don’t need to be thinking during a fight except to predict your opponent’s moves,” Shou says, still writing kanji, as if he hadn’t just implied she was stupid.

Shouichi stares at her.

“What?”

He thinks about asking whether she’s mad or not, but he’s known her long enough (he thinks) to confidently say that she isn’t mad. She’s not smiling anymore though, tongue sticking out of her mouth as she drags the brush across the paper.

... Come to think of it, he’s never seen her mad. Not even when Moritaka-sensei scolded her on her calligraphy, or someone shoved her off the bridge on the way to the Academy. Even when Cousin Mi-chan says her stories about Pirios are stupid, Shou never gets angry.

Shouichi hesitates whether to put that on her list of weaknesses or not. Doesn’t know whether he should apologize or not. Instead, he grabs some yokan from the pantry and gives it to her — red bean, her favourite — and if he feels relief when her smile returns to full-force as she bites into the yokan, he says nothing.

Later, they play with ashes of burnt calligraphy practice papers and Shou regales him and every other child in hearing distance about why the Pirios would smear volcano ash on their faces. “For intimidation,” she says, “because you can never be too careful about Pirios.”

“But didn’t you say they were all nice?”

“Of course we are!” she appears almost offended for a moment. “We don’t get angry a lot, but when we do it’s...” she looks to the side, to a vision no one but her can see, “It’s not good.” Shou looks back at them, and smiles. “See, Pirios might do bad things when they’re angry, and Myrrhopus’ specter might find us if we do bad things...”

* * *

 (Later, Shouichi asks his mother if it’s normal for people to not get angry.

Her careful advice of, “Those that don’t show anger deal the greatest damage when they do,” stays with him forever.

He hopes he’ll never find truth in those words.)

* * *

 Children are cute.

It’s hard to get mad at children. They’re so young, so tiny, (Shou tends to ignore that they’re technically the same height as her) so fragile. Shinobi children are her favourite. Not just because they’re all going to be fighters when they get older, but because they remind her of the new Sorce School students visiting the combat facilities for the first time, five-to-twelve year-olds staring at her or whoever is sparring in awe.

Wide-eyed, curious about everything, eager to learn, and an edge or caution that normal kids don’t have. After all, one of the first things taught in Sorce School to budding mages is, “Magic is something we harness, but it is capable of hurting us as much as it is helping us. So always be careful.” At some point, it becomes second nature to be listening for signs of chaos from an experiment gone wrong or a pissy mage that did something like block off a hallway with a giant lily because she was running from her fiance.

Shinobi children are raised to be careful from day one. After all, they’re the future military force of Uzushiogakure, and caution is one of those lessons that can never be taught too soon, Shou thinks. So it’s so hard to get mad at them when they brace themselves for a lashing of feet or fists because she was pushed off the bridge, or when they call her stupid, or tell her that the Pirios don’t exist and that she’s full of bull. Well, Mi-chan hadn’t said it in those exact words but Shou doesn’t make a habit of remembering unnecessary things.

But yeah, it’s... she doesn’t see the point in getting mad at any of the children around her. She knows from years of experience as a teacher that children can be needlessly cruel or mercilessly blunt, so it’s easy to shrug off things that other children would find hurtful.

The key to not getting angry, she found out a lifetime ago, is to figure out why someone does what they do. Find out why they behaved in a way that would have angered her, and shrug, and move on. It’s so easy to not be angry.

And besides, fighting when your blood boils with anger is only a quarter as fun as fighting with excitement. Excitement is how you can truly relish the clash or metal and consider your opponent and their skills and the next ten possible moves they’ll make. Anger dulls your vision to nothing but taking down your opponent, and maybe their next move, but it’s no fun.

And for a Pirios who lives for the fight, even though she hasn’t had any proper fights yet this life... anger? What’s the point of that? 

**Author's Note:**

> I love Shou, I hope you do too. Comments are welcome.
> 
> (I can be found on tumblr as exile-wrath, feel free to talk to me if you like this fic or want to know more!)


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